Subway Striders
by xoanneox
Summary: In a world were Subway Stride competitions are forbidden but are held almost every night Sakura tries to survive. Run competitions, try to win them, try to get away without the cops catching her and still live through school? Pretty hard but Sakura absolutely loves her live. She will train just to get as good as her friends - while making new friends (god damn they are hot.)
1. Prologue

Subway Striders

A Naruto Fanfiction

By xoanneox

In a world were Subway Stride competitions are forbidden but are held almost every night Sakura tries to survive every night. Run competitions, try to win them, try to get away without the cops catching her and still live through school? Pretty hard but Sakura absolutely loves her live. Sakura trains even harder - she wants to get to the top like her friends. AU: Subway Stride

 _ **Prologue**_

"She has a 70 meter lead!"

Step. Step. Jump. Jump. "A perfect landing! If she holds up this speed she'll win!"

And she did. Sakura ran the last 20 meter like it would save her life. Once she reached the finish line a bell ringed. She had won. Finally. After all those extreme training sessions she finally won. Her first victory.

Her best friend and sister figure, Ino, came running to her. Before Sakura could even greet her she was engulfed in a pair arms. "You did amazing! Your first victory! You totally deserved it after training so hard," Ino said to her. Sakura untangled herself out of the hug and smiled at the blonde. "Yes I did! But god now I'm tired."

She really was. She had done a few friendly competitions with friends of hers but she never won those. How could she? She somehow had managed to befriend the best subway striders of Konoha. Wait. Correct that. She had friends who somehow were the best subway striders of Konoha. She had only found out about their "secret" sport when she started herself.

Sakura wanted to say more to her but she didn't say anything when she saw her best friend looking around like crazy. "What's wrong, Ino?" she asked. Ino looked around for one more time and then answered. "I heard some people say that they thought that people had called the cops, but I haven't seen any yet." They made Sakura look around too.

When she had only watched subway stride competitions she had been many times in such a situations. People who lived near had called the police to arrest the, like they called it, suicide runners. She had made it out of there both times without getting caught but she heard of others who had been caught.

Hm. Suicide runners. They said it like it was a disease. It was forbidden by law, but it was a much-practiced sport at night by many teenagers, young adults and a few adults here and there. That name hadn't been there for nothing. You ran between and jumped on and of old trains, train rails, small buildings and other obstacles, without any security and risking your life.

Many had died, but Sakura didn't let that stop her. She loved doing it and she wouldn't stop being a subway runner anytime soon. "Sakura! Sakura!" It was Naruto, another good friend of her, a bit of an idiot at times, but one of the best striders. "You gotta get out of here! They're really here," he finished when he stood in front of her. She understood. "Okay Naruto. Which way are they coming from?" "I don't know exactly but you should go east. That's the only thing I know, believe it!" Sakura nodded. "Alright. Go home straight," she gave him a stern look, "and don't get caught." "I won't, Sakura-chan! You know I always get out of it," he said. She rolled her eyes. "Just because you're the mayor's son doesn't mean they won't arrest you. But okay, I gotta go!" They said goodbye to each other and Ino ran with her to the east "exit".

They would have to go through the woods but that was the only way to go if they didn't want to be seen by the cops, and then if they were seen they would be able to get away because they were way faster and way more familiar with the woods than them.

They ran for a bit more and the two girls said goodbye to each other. Sakura ran the last 500 meters as fast as possible after such a tiresome race. She climbed over the fence, landed as soft as possible on the grass and walked to the back of her house. No lights. Good, her mother wasn't up yet. She stood on the windowsill, took a hold on the drainpipe and climbed a bit. She tossed her body up and set her feet on the windowsill of her bedroom. Her window was on a crack so she was able to open it from the outside. She set it as wide as possible and stepped inside her room. Getting out of her stride clothes and into her pyjamas she looked at her nightstand. Her alarm said 05:17 so she would be able to sleep for a bit more than an hour.

She got into bed and fell asleep with a smile on her face, thinking of her victory.


	2. Chapter One

_**Chapter one**_

 _10 years ago_

 _A six year old Sakura was running around with her only friend – Ino – while her mother was talking to Ino's mother. "Ino?" the young pink haired girl had an idea. "Yes Sakura?" little Ino had stopped running and was now paying full attention to her friend. "I got an idea," she stated happily. Ino looked really interested, which made the little girl happy._

" _We can try to climb on the roof of the playhouse!" Sakura was elated. Ino didn't look very enthusiastic anymore. "Isn't that very dangerous?" Ino didn't like the idea anymore. "We could fall and get hurt!" she said, but Sakura was determined to climb the playhouse so she did._

 _She climbed the small stair and walked to one of the four poles which held the roof of the playhouse. She set her hands on the beam on which the pole stood and took a deep breath. She could do this. She pushed herself up and lifter her knee and then the other. She now sat on her knees on the beam. Ino stood in front of her and Sakura looked down, waving at her. "Look out!" Ino was worried that her best friend would fall and hurt herself. She didn't want that. But Sakura looked absolutely in her element. She lifted herself to her feet so she stood on the beam and leaned on the pole._

 _Sakura turned a bit so she was facing the pole and then jumped. "Sakura!" Ino was scared. Her friend just jumped and she would- she would fall! But she didn't, much to Ino's surprise. Sakura had seized the roof and lifted her legs so she could push her whole body on the roof and she did it with little trouble._

 _Mebuki, who was talking to the mother of Sakura's best friend, looked up when she heard her daughter yell, "Okaa-san! Look! Look!", but what she saw didn't make her happy. Her daughter had climbed on the playhouse and was now sitting on the roof. Flashbacks of her husband, who had done that with her when they were teenagers on a romantic date and wanted to watch the sun set, came rushing back and she ran to the playhouse where her daughter was sitting on, faster than she had expected._

 _Heh. Maybe she still had it in her, but that didn't matter. If her daughter was anything like her husband had been she wouldn't let it be just climbing a playhouse – she would climb way more when she would be older. Not even out of breath, Mebuki stood in front of her daughter. "Sakura! Come down here! Right now!" She didn't want her to get hurt. "But okaa-san!" her daughter protested._

 _Sakura didn't like it. Her mother should be proud that she had climbed the playhouse but her mother wasn't proud. "Sakura! I said come down!" She pouted but climbed down anyway. She knew that when her mother was mad she should listen, otherwise she would get even more mad._

 _Mebuki took Sakura by her arm and said a quick goodbye to Ino and her mother. Mebuki didn't like seeing her daughter like that but she had to. She didn't want her daughter to be upset with her or even mad but she didn't want her daughter to develop advanced climbing technics like her husband had done on a very young age._

 _Otherwise she would end up like her Father. Dead._

Present day

Waking up was not one of Sakura's favourite things to do after a subway stride competition but she had to. And if that wasn't hard enough itself she had to act if she was awake – if she didn't people would ask questions and they would be able to guess where she had been because it wasn't exactly uncommon to go to the competitions– to watch. It was, however, less common for people like her to participate in the subway stride competitions. The only thing is that both aren't accepted – once someone hears about what you do at night and doesn't know you in a friendly way they will report it to the police or their parents for sure.

So at day she was a normal girl – normal grades, normal looks ( if you didn't count her hair) and normal friends (who didn't really have normal lives at night). She dressed herself in the uniform and walked to the kitchen, only to find it empty. Her mother was probably already gone to her work so she would have to eat alone. Again.

Her bond with her mother had never been really tight but it felt like she never spoke to her mother anymore. She had to go to work early and always came back late – Sakura would have finished her homework by then and would be asleep because she had to get up that night to get to the race, so she practically never saw her mother anymore. The only time they would see each other was in the weekend and then her mother would be asleep for most of the time to get the sleep she didn't get on the day she had to work.

Sakura arrived a bit late at school, but she always did. She was never really late, she just always arrived at the same time her teacher – which was five minutes after the last bell rang – and he would never write it down because he couldn't say anything about her when he never arrived on time himself. Hatake-sensei was a very laidback teacher anyway. And he liked her so they never had trouble with each other.

She saw Naruto in the back and waved at him. She opened her books and turned to him. "You look like you didn't sleep a minute," she said. "Sakura-chan! Good morning!" he totally ignored her comment. Sakura sighed and smiled while she shook her head. "Good morning to you too, Naruto. But did you sleep?" He really did have sleeping problems. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I was so excited about you winning the competition that I couldn't sleep and I still had to start that paper so I started writing it," he answered.

Sakura shook her head again. "Naruto, you do know that the deadline is soon?" He nodded. "It's a five page paper," she continued, "and it has to be finished Monday." He looked like she had shot him. "But Sakura-chan! I thought the deadline was in two weeks." He was lying. Sakura knew that he knew that the deadline was on Monday but now he would try to get her feel guilty so she would help him. Heh, she thought, not this time.

"Naruto, you know the deadline is on Monday," came a voice from behind her. They turned around to see Hatake-sensei. "Good morning to you too, sensei," she greeted. "Aa. Good morning Sakura. You look pretty fit after tonight," his voice was noticeable softer when he said the second sentence. Sakura was a bit confused. She didn't know that her sensei knew about their nightlife. "Aa, Sakura-chan," Naruto started, his voice as soft as possible for him, "Sensei here was a strider once too, ANBU level," he said. Sakura's eyes widened. ANBU level was the highest level in the subway stride competitions.

"Naruto, you know that that was a long time ago. I don't do subway stride competitions anymore," he replied, his voice was strained. Sakura noticed it, though it was a bit hard to notice, and she began to think. He might have had some bad experiences with subway striding. He started speaking again, even softer now. "There is a competition in Suna next Wednesday," he started, "You will have six nights to prepare. Are you going, Naruto?" Naruto brightened up at the mentioning of the competition in Suna. Sakura sighed. She hadn't heard of it earlier and she had much work to do the next days so she probably wouldn't be able to attend.

"I'm going, believe it! And Sakura-chan is coming too!"

She is?

* * *

So we finally got a pit of Sakura's past (^.^)

You will get a "flashback" (if you can call it that, it's more like a part of the past) at almost every chapter's beginning.

Who's excited for the Suna competition?

Please Follow, Favourite and Comment


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter 2**

 _Three years ago_

 _Sakura closed the door behind her and set the tray with drinks and cookies down on the table. Naruto, who was already sitting took a cookie and started munching. He swallowed and started speaking. "What do you want to know, Sakura?" Sakura, who was 13 at that time, had many questions. Why hadn't her friends told her about this? Why didn't they tell that they didn't only watch, but also participated in the competitions? She had so many questions.._

" _Let's start with the less hard ones," she said, "I really want to ask why you all didn't tell me about this but I suppose that you all had your reasons so you could start with explaining me the basics." Naruto nodded. He wasn't as hyper as normal because he knew that he had hurt his best friend by not telling her about it but he was happy that she would let him explain._

" _The basics of the subway stride competitions are simple. You have to run, jump and climb as fast as possible without falling." Sakura nodded. She had seen a few competitions and knew that. "It does get harder though. The competitions you normally see are genin level – the lowest level and the easiest. After the genin level comes the chunin level. Most people there are around fifteen when they start in the chunin level competitions. After this it becomes even harder," Naruto said. Sakura nodded, this was important for her to know. She had seen a few competitions – apparently genin competitions - but those weren't only done by young teenagers, but also by young adults. She understood now that it was because of the fact that they didn't have any chunin or higher level courses near._

 _Naruto was silent for a moment, apparently thinking. "Naruto?" "You know of the deaths that happen, don't you?" he asked. This made her silent too. "Yes," she said with a soft voice. "A son of a man who lived in this street died in a competition." The deaths that happen in the competitions aren't something that people speak of. "After chunin comes the jounin level. Most people who join jounin level competition levels are older than 17. If they even join. The jounin courses are life risking and that scares many," his attitude shifts. He has been serious because this wasn't a thing you joke about it but he has a smile on his face. "But I'm gonna join the jounin courses, believe it!"_

 _Sakura nodded. She believed it. Her best friend was very good on the genin course and she believed that he would make it._

Present time

Sakura took her tray with her lunch meal to her table and sat next to Naruto. "Naruto," she muttered. "Yes Sakura-chan?" How could he look so innocent? He knew damn well what this was about! "You know I can't go," she hissed on a low voice. "But Sakura-chan! I got some friends and I want you to meet them," he pouted. "Naruto, I have much to do next week. What makes you think that I have time to go to Suna?" she asked. Naruto stopped pouting, (he knew it wasn't going to work), but started speaking again. "I heard that Tsunade will attend," he whispered.

Sakura's eyes widened. Tsunade Senju was a woman Sakura adored, (or worshipped, in Naruto's words) and she had had the privilege to meet with her once, where she promised to Tsunade that she would be worth the training she had asked for. Sakura, who knew almost everything about Tsunade, had asked if the elder woman if she could train her for the competitions, but Tsunade had declined her. She had told her that she wasn't worth it yet, that she should grow more in all the possible ways before she would train her. Sakura did all the things she could and when she thought she was worth the training, she searched for Tsunade. But Tsunade was nowhere to be found in all the four nations. Of course she had heard rumours, but she couldn't just go there if she heard about Tsunade being there because she had a life herself, and if she did have time she would be too late there to see Tsunade.

"How late will we go?" she asked. Naruto's face brightened and he started speaking. "Well, I planned on going directly after school. None of the other will go with us because they will go separately and later but I got to go earlier because I have to pick up some friends." Sakura frowned a bit. She knew she had to go with Naruto, otherwise she wouldn't even be able to arrive there, but direct after school? "Naruto, you know I can't go after school, I have to wait till my mom goes to sleep," she said. "But I got a plan, Sakura-chan! You know we always slept over when we were younger, right?" O no, she knew were this was going. "We can act like we're going to have a sleepover again!"

"If we can get out without getting in problems with your dad, I'll go with you," she agreed. "But only if we don't get any problems with your dad." Knowing her blond friend, they would get in problems one way or another and she tried to have as less as possible.

Sakura pulled her hair in a ponytail and stretched a bit. She would have a friendly match with someone she didn't know, but apparently Naruto had known him. "He's an ice-cold bastard," he said, "but he was my best friend and now he's coming back!" The fact that he would be coming back had made him absolutely go crazy.

Naruto had told her that he was good, one of the best, and that he knew this course like the back of his hand but that she would have a shot. Sakura knew with this information that she wouldn't be able to win but she absolutely going to try to win.

The lanterns that some people had set up shone softly, but just enough so that they would be able to see where they were running.

Her opponent arrived and walked her way, to stand next to her.

"ARE YOU READYYYY?"

They had gotten new electronics, Sakura nodded.

"3"

She looked sideways at the male next to her.

"2"

"Good luck," she murmured.

"1"

"Hn," was the only reply she got.

"GO!"

And she ran.

* * *

And there you go, chapter two!

It isn't very had to guess who the new guy is, right?

Well, we got the competition levels and Sakura's meeting with Tsunade (which will probably get a flashback, somewhere in the story).

Did you guys like it?

Thank you all for reading, following, favouriting and reviewing

BTW, about the updates: Please don't expect the updates every day. I'll mostly update on friday and in the weekends but like today, when I have stopped writing half way the chapter the day before, I can finish it on a school day. I'm a 14 years old HAVO student, which makes me have pretty much to do so I can't always write but I'll do my best!


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter three

 _Two years ago_

 _It was Friday night and she was watching a stride competition. Correction, trying to watch a stride competition. Why do all these people have to be so ridiculous tall? She couldn't see most of it and she had to listen to what the others told each other to know what was happening._

 _14 year old Sakura was short and normally had no problems with it. She did have problems with her length at times like this – when her length was withholding her from something she wanted. She pushed people left and right to get past them – the only way for her to see something was if she stood in front of all the others – and that was her plan._

 _She was nearly there when she pushed a male to her right. The others hadn't really reacted when she pushed them, but this male reacted. "Foolish girl," he said to her. Sakura froze, not expecting him to speak. She turned to him and bowed slightly, "I'm sorry," she apologised. He didn't turn to her but he looked at her from his canthus._

" _You could have asked if I wanted to move," he said. Sakura's face flushed and she bowed and apologized again. His voice… so deep and still soft. She decided that she liked his voice. "I'll ask next time," she added. He nodded, still not facing her. "Ehrm, you watch the races often?" she asked as a stupid attempt to start a conversation._

 _Now he turned to her and she could see his face in the light of the lanterns. He looked like he was five years older than her, and he was gorgeous. But when she looked him in the eye, she felt like she stopped breathing. Those eyes.. Those eyes looked like they held so much information, like they knew every secret of the world. They almost looked old, like they had seen too much, but they suited him._

" _My cousin is running right now," was his short reply. She knew immediately which one, she could see the resemblance. While she wasn't well known at the competitions, she was one of the few who had even a bit of medical knowledge so the racers came many times to her when they had hurt themselves of just for a check-up._

 _Running now was Shisui, against someone whose name she didn't bother to remember. Shisui had visited her a few times after a race for a check-up but the other one was an outsider, and outsiders didn't go to her for a check-up._

 _She could finally see the racers and paid attention to the race for a minute of two, deciding to reply later, after she had seen how Shisui had been doing. "Shisui-san is doing good, even better than normal," she noted. The male raised an eyebrow. "You're an acquaintance of Shisui?" he asked. Sakura nodded. "I'm one of the so called nurses, I patch them up after a race if they have hurt themselves and they're too stubborn to go to the hospital again. Haruno Sakura at your service," she introduced herself._

" _Uchiha Itachi. You're the reason he's still working probably after all those races?" Sakura wondered about that. "I think so. I'm not the one with the most medical knowledge. My mother taught me a few basic things, like first aid, but I've read much and I try to apply that," she replied._

" _It's his last race tonight," Itachi said out of nowhere. Sakura almost chocked in her own saliva. "Why is he stopping?" He was one of the nicest racers she knew, her friends not counted, and she knew he was one of the best._

" _We're going to college so we'll be able to take over the company in a few years," was his answer._

Present time

They had chosen a course of 2 kilometres, not long, she knew, but with extreme obstacles. She had to be extremely concentrated, or else she would hurt herself, she knew, so she couldn't really pay attention to her opponent.

She jumped over a low beam, landed on the ground and ducked under a higher beam. Running further, she tried to avoid the holes in the ground but it was hard, considering the fact that the lanterns gave only enough light to see half of the course. However, it wasn't hard to notice the next obstacle. A part of an old subway. She jumped on the railing, made sure her food landed right, and jumped again, only to land on the roof of the old subway.

She found her balance back and started running. It wasn't exactly a long part that she could run but she just had to run as fast as possible at parts like this because she would lose time while ducking obstacles. Sakura didn't even bother jumping on the railing, she just jumped off the roof and landed on the ground.

She hadn't exactly paid attention to the voices but now, on a part where she just had to run, she paid attention to it. The new electronics they had worked good, she decided. Everyone, even the ones that couldn't see the part where she was running, were able to follow what was happening now.

She jumped on the platform and jumped again, her hands clamping to the poles while she swayed her body forwards so she could grasp the next pole. She had to do this for ten times before she could let go and run again.

Next obstacle. She leaped to the wall and clamped her hands to the rope that was hanging there. She pushed her body in a more comfortable position and pulled her body up. Once she reached the top she left the rope hanging and let herself fall down to the ground. She wasn't able to land on her feet so she landed on her knees. She reminded herself that she had to train that landing later. She got up and ran further.

She jumped over the hole and grasped the swinging beam, landed on the platform and repeated that. She landed and speed up. This was her last running part so she had to sprint as fast as possible. It felt like she couldn't go fast enough. The finish came in sight and she smiled, she could make it, she could beat him – only to notice that he was already standing there. She faltered for a bit but didn't stop running, reaching the finish after a few seconds.

She put her Capri jeans on and searched for her blouse. She found her red one and looked up when there was a knocking sound on the door of the self-made changing room. "Who's there?" She wasn't really expecting someone while she was changing. "It's Naruto," was said from the other side of the door. She rolled her eyes with an amused smile on her face. She should have known that.

"You know I'm changing," she replied. "I've seen you in far less, Sakura-chan," was the reply and Naruto and he opened the door and entered. "What the hell, Naruto!" She put her blouse on as fast as possible and was even more shocked when a second person entered her changing room.

It may be called a room but it was cold and she was planning on going home as fast as possible. It was half way April and at day was it warm enough but at night it was pretty cold.

"You don't need to be so mad, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, faking a hurt tone. "Why did you take someone into the room I was changing?!" Naruto may be close to her and did things she wouldn't let many do, but this was too far. She looked at the stranger for a second time and realized something.

It was the male she had compete against. She smiled a bit at him, "I'm sorry for this. He can be a bit much at times. I'm Haruno Sakura. Naruto didn't tell me your name." He didn't smile back. He looked somewhat familiar, Sakura thought. "Hn. I'm Uchiha Sasuke." No way. "You're Itachi's little brother?"

* * *

YOLO

You thought I wrote that Itachi flashback for no reason?

Did you like their meeting?

How do you think Sakura still remembers Itachi? I mean, she met him once two years ago.

I wouldn't remember someone I met two years ago XD

I'm actually surprised about the fact that I updated on time. I'm not really used to writing multi-chaptered stories anymore so please bear with me. And gosh, I'm killing myself with the storyline. I have to make sure everything is at the right time, that the flashbacks are at the right year. I'm really afraid that I'll get the events at the wrong time but I'm helping myself to prevent that!

Thank you all for reading, following and reviewing


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